Wednesday, October 26, 2016

LEXINGTON VIRGINIA TO SOMEWHERE NORTH OF STATESIDE NORTH CAROLINA…..STILL NOT UP TO PAR:((

Unlike our usual traveling selves we were not on the road in the pre-dawn hours but some of our welcome overnight guests were. In unknown areas it’s always comforting to have a few other RV’ers or trucks scattered about and last night it was half a dozen trucks which were not a bother at all. In fact one fella had pulled in a few spaces over and left his engine running but as darkness fell he backed his rig up about 3 lengths and we like to think the driver did that out of common courtesy for us. Hmmm, wonder if he/she was a fellow Canadian:))

Have definitely moved up another notch on the good old ‘feeling better’ scale and I think much of that had to do with a desperately welcome good night’s sleep for a change. Had to use a powerful sleeping pill to do it though.

ROLLING ALONG THROUGH THE APPALACHIAN MOUNTAINS

We had the big wheels rolling at 8:30 and were soon southbound on I-81. What a gorgeously beautiful morning it was again as we slipped along over hill and dale around gently rolling curves. Clear blue skies and scenery that went on forever. Sure is a picture perfect part of the country and I’m glad we finally had a chance to have a look at it.

BLACKBERRY PHOTO BOMBING

I could tell right away I was solidly back in the driver’s seat again handily taking charge of my surroundings. We encountered a few long winding grades and the The Big EEE never missed a beat and I’m thinking it all has to do with blog reader ‘Chris the Jeep Guy’ taking the time last winter in Congress to disassemble, clean and reassemble our O2 sensor one morning. We have not had a speck of trouble since he did that. Don’t know if your still out here Chris but a great big ‘Yahouie Louie’ to you:))))

INTERSTATE TO THE LEFT WITH A RUNAWAY TRUCK RAMP TO THE RIGHT

Traffic was lighter this morning but feeling a little drained around 11 we decided to take advantage of a Cracker Barrel again only this time for some breakfast. Several folks have mentioned I should be eating some eggs so eggs it was at the Barrel. Soooooo good. As generally always happens we can never eat all our food and end up with enough stuff to last us for supper. Today was no exception as our generous waitress loaded our Bowser bag with extra dinner rolls, butters and jams as well as two piping hot full cups of coffee to go. One look at me and I’m convinced she thought I was a homeless person. We had to wheelbarrow our goodies out in a shopping bag.

I PUT A LOAD OF LAUNDRY IN WHILE WE WENT IN FOR BREAKFAST

Feeling a little under the weather I rested in the rig for about 40 minutes before we hit the road again and as soon as we had ourselves rolling I rallied and felt perfectly fine. Might have even had myself a quiet little whistle. Our conversation finally centered on which route to take. We were coming up on a couple options and needed to make a decision before we blew on by the exits. I was still leaning towards my I-81 and 26 heading through Asheville to Augusta Georgia. Following Triple AAA’s Triptic Kelly came up with some new plans which would get us off I-81 earlier and head us on down through Charlotte then pick up a secondary highway heading to Augusta. Well boys you know there’s no use winning anything when that female mind is made up so at the junction of I-80 and I-77 I swung that Motorhome steering wheel hard left and headed due south.

ELMO HAS REALLY BEEN HAPPILY ENJOYING HIS VERY FIRST EVER RV TRIP…..HE SURE GIGGLES A LOT

Along about 1 o’clock I could tell I was beginning to fade yet again so had my trusty navigator plot us a course to the nearest standard safe port and sure enough using her Blackberry for the first time as a GPS she found us a Walmart just a short distance dead ahead. Oh how welcome it always is at the end of a travel day to see that big old blue Walmart sign.

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After seemingly driving through Virginia forever yesterday and today it was nice to see a new State finally show up. No idea where we’ll be Thursday night but tonight we are somewhere north of Stateside North Carolina……………..

Don’t know why but my energies keep tanking. Tried taking Pheebs for a short walk late this afternoon but had to return quickly on rubbery legs and hit the washroom. Told Kelly I wanted to try walking to the Walmart store and jokingly told her to come along in case she had to bring me back in a shopping cart. That nearly happened and I was so glad to make it back to the rig and flop myself into my recliner. Whatever it is I have seems to come and go. One minute I’m feeling reasonably good and the next minute I feel like a big steam roller has run over me……...then backed up.

OUR SPOT FOR THE NIGHT AND YEP THAT’S PHEEBS AND KELLY WAY DOWN THERE OUT FOR A WALK

GROANER’S CORNER:(( By the time the sailor pulled into a little town every hotel room was taken. "You've got to have a room somewhere," he pleaded. "Or just a bed, I don't care where." "Well, I do have a double room with one occupant - an Air Force guy," admitted the manager, "and he might be glad to split the cost. But to tell you the truth, he snores so loudly that people in adjoining rooms have complained in the past. I'm not sure it'd be worth it to you." "No problem," the tired Navy man assured him. "I'll take it." The next morning, the sailor came down to breakfast bright-eyed and bushy tailed. "How'd you sleep?" asked the manager. "Never better." The manager was impressed. "No problem with the other guy snoring?" "Nope. I shut him up in no time," said the Navy guy. "How'd you manage that?" asked the manager. "He was already in bed, snoring away, when I came in the room," the sailor explained. "I went over, gave him a kiss on the cheek, and said, 'Goodnight beautiful,' ….....and he sat up all night watching me."

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Once upon a time there was a non-conforming sparrow who decided not to fly south for the winter. However, soon the weather turned so cold that he reluctantly decided to fly south. In a short time ice began to form on his wings and he fell to Earth in a barnyard, nearly frozen solid. A cow passed by where he had fallen, and crapped on the little sparrow.The sparrow thought it was the end, but the manure warmed him and defrosted his wings! Warm and happy, able to breath, he started to sing. Just then a large cat came by, and hearing the chirping he investigated the sounds. The cat cleared away the manure, found the chirping bird, and promptly ate him.

The Moral of the Story:

Everyone who craps on you is not necessarily your enemy

Everyone who gets you out of crap is not necessarily your friend.

And if you're warm and happy in a pile of crap, you might just want to keep your mouth shut.

You and a commenter had me convinced you were surviving food poisoning. I hope you can hang in till you get to your destination and then get it check out .... I'm sure the Pheebs wouldn't mind taking the wheel for a while. I know here that Stella does but all of her drool makes it hard to hang onto the steering wheel. :) Hang in there Al.

Sorry you are under the weather, but I envy you your trip. You are visiting one of my favourite areas of the USA. Hope you are soon feeling 100% or at least fair to middlin' which after you reach a certain age is about as good as it gets.Elaine on Vancouver Island

Sounds like you are having small relapses. By pushing yourself too soon after feeling better your body relapses. Do that too many times and you could be down for a longer period of time than the initial illness. Take a break from the travels, drink juices and have lots of Chicken Noodle Soup. That'll get you back on track.Be Safe and Enjoy!

Al, take it easy. Better to get off the road early & rest. You have all winter ahead of you.Google. "Campylobacter". This is another food borne illness. It also can take several days to appear.I had it about ten years ago. Had it for one week, started to improve only to have it hit me for another week which sent me to Dr. ....lab test confirmed & to my surprise someone from Public Health came as they try to track down the source.Try to avoid stores for now. You wouldn't want to pick up a bad cold on top of what you are already going through......hope you feel better soon & safe travels.

Can Kelly drive the Big EEE? This sounds like the perfect time for her to get some training. A correction is needed in your blog, you turned south at the intersection of I-81 and I-77, not I-80. Don't want to confuse folks. (I was just on I-81 Tuesday coming out of Roanoke, VA. heading back home to Ohio. (You missed the snow in upstate NY). Drink lots of water to cleanse your bodily systems. Take care.

Ever had your blood sugar tested? Sounds to ME (a diabetic) that you go from weak, but feel better after you eat...then it goes back down again between meals. I get the shakes, too, if I miss a certain number of hours of food. Just a thought. Take care...want you to get to your Arizona digs in one piece and healthy!

I agree IF you can, you should see a doctor if this keeps up for a total of a week. When you went by the exit for I64 East to take you to the Skyline Drive and the Blue Ridge Parkway you missed the chance to stop on by and see us. Too bad for us. You are in our hometown neck of the woods and that's where we are until Sunday. Really hope you will be feeling 100% very soon. I assume you have no fever? If you haven't had a cough it probably isn't pneumonia.

I'm with the "see a doc" group, if you continue to have highs and lows..Gatorade or Ensure are 2 drinks that help you get back on track if your electrolytes are screwed up from the flu...Best to stop and seek medical attention and maybe some blood work if you aren't rebounding for good pretty soon!!

AL'S CAMERA EQUIPMENT

A sometimes asked question readers have about my blog is what kind of a camera do I use. Well I have 5 of them and use all 5.

'UPDATE':: July 2017 Thanks to a very generous blog reader I have been able to update my Nikon camera equipment and supplement my camera gear with a couple additional fine Sony cameras as well.I now have a Nikon D7200 sporting a new Nikkor 18-300 3.5 zoom lens. Also have picked up a new Nikkor 1.8 primary 35mm lens. In addition I also now have a Sony RX100-3 camera as well as a Sony Exmore Cybershot. I have given my Canon Powershot point and shoot camera to a neighbor.

- In early 2017 I replaced my Nikon D-90 camera with a new D-3400 after the 'auto focus' feature on my aging D-90 quit working. The Nikon D-90 had been my work horse camera sporting a Nikkor 18-55mm 1:3.5-5.6 lens. I used this camera for most of my landscapes and I now have it set up for night photography where 'auto focus' is not necessary.

-My older faithful and favorite Nikon D-40 finally packed it in during the summer of 2015 and I replaced it with a new Nikon D-3100 which now carries my Nikkor 70-300mm 1:4.5-6.6 lens. I use this camera & lens for most of my candid people photos, birds, animals, bugs & flower close-ups.

- Previous to my Nikon D-90, most of my photos were taken with my old faithful Nikon D-50 from 2006 to early 2011 whereupon the D-50 suffered a rather gruesome death when it fell off a table onto a cement porch in southeastern Arizona. The 70-300mm lens on the camera survived the fall but the D-50 did not. My Nikkor lenses are interchangable between the D-90 the D-3100 and the D-3400.

-My Canon Powershot SX210iS is a point & shoot camera which I carry in a case on my belt everywhere I go.-My older Canon Powershot A720iS is the camera that sits close to my recliner for most of those doggy living room photos.